LAHORE The installation of a sophisticated scanner to check smuggling through cargo containers at Wagah border will be completed by the middle next month (November), as the experts are giving final touches to the project. Well-placed sources revealed Saturday said that the machinery had been imported to install a 15-feet wide and 30-feet long scanner at the border cross while international experts would arrive in the next few days to fix the much-needed equipment. Ahead of the formal launch of Pak-Afghan transit trade, the federal government had approved the project to check smuggling of drugs, contraband, fake currency and arms from the Indian side. The security considerations are being given paramount importance in view of the possible attempts to smuggle heroin, contraband, fake currency and arms through this (Wagah) land route, an official of the Interior Ministry told this reporter, when contacted. He further said the govt also had taken a serious notice of the shipment of some consignments of drugs and contaminated goods in the recent past through the road and Samjhauta Express. The National Logistic Corporation (NLC) had been directed to complete the project as per international standards. Islamabads reluctance to permit Indian goods transit through Pakistan is rooted in its wariness of the growing Indian influence in Afghanistan. In the context of the present seeming impasse in peace talks between India and Pakistan, India has stepped up proxy war against Pakistan by using the Afghan soil, a senior official said. He also warned of a strong possibility of New Delhi supplying lethal weapons to the militants to destabilise Pakistan through the border crossing. Therefore, this (scanner) would help check all kinds of smuggling, he opined. According to the sources, the NLC would complete the venture at the earliest as the Interior Ministry, in the recent past, has exposed Indian designs to smuggle explosive material to the militants by using the land route. The installation of the scanner, supposed to be completed by the end of August 2010, was delayed due to one or another reason. Now, the NLC has been tasked to complete the target within the deadline, keeping National Trade Corridor Task Force Committee on Trade Facilitation (NTC-TF) updated on the progress made. The FBR would provide an online connectivity to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for electronically obtaining the 'phytosanitary certificates from the Plant Protection Department (PPD) and the Animal Quarantine Department (AQD) for speedy clearance of imported consignments. The sources say the manual submission of 'phytosanitary certificates by the departments concerned to the Customs take a lot of time, which would be reduced substantially following implementation of the new electronic system.